Hannover 2010 – scientific programme

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SYFC: Symposium Variations of Fundamental Constants: Theory and Experiment

SYFC 1: Variations of Fundamental Constants I

SYFC 1.4: Invited Talk

Monday, March 8, 2010, 15:30–16:00, A 001

Optical clocks with trapped ions and the search for variations of fundamental constants — •Ekkehard Peik — Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt, 38116 Braunschweig

Optical clocks with laser-cooled trapped ions have now reached an accuracy that surpasses those of the best atomic clocks in the microwave domain. The comparison of different optical transition frequencies over time can be used in a laboratory search for a possible time dependence of the fine structure constant α. We investigate two reference transitions with very low natural linewidths that are promising candidates for precise clocks and also offer high sensitivity to variations of α: the electric octupole transition at 467 nm in ¹⁷¹Yb⁺ and the optical nuclear transition at about 7.6 eV in ²²⁹Th³⁺.